Dominique Meyer presents the new season of La Scala in Milan
“La Scala is doing well”. Passing through Paris with part of his team, the superintendent of the prestigious Milanese institution, Dominique Meyer, first reassured about the state of his house, during a presentation of the 2023 season organized at the Embassy of ‘ ‘Italy. Particularly affected by the Covid epidemic, the Lombard region has deplored many deaths and suffered a long confinement. A period used to undertake some work at La Scala, aimed in particular at improving the acoustics, and reorganizing its internal functioning. And the results are already there: Dominique Meyer thus announces ticketing receipts “10% higher than those which were achieved before the Covid crisis”, a sign according to him that there is “no fatality” and that “the ‘opera should be for everyone’. With this conviction, he detailed the new policy of the Scala, based on technology, environmental responsibility, and inclusion, including in particular renovation works, objectives for reducing CO2 emissions, the arrival of streaming in February 2023 and price advantages for young audiences and families, with particular care being given to programming intended for children.
In this context, the 2023 season is characterized by a certain return to basics, with programming “centered on Italy”. Certainly, it is a Russian opera, Boris Godunov (in the original version) which will be presented as a curtain lever on December 7, under the baton of Ricardo Chailly and in a staging of Kasper Holten. But lovers of romantic bel canto will be delighted, with Lucia of Lammermoor (Oropesa and Florez conducted by Chailly, in a production by Yannis Kokkos sacrificed by the Covid crisis), the resumption of macbeth sign David Livermore (Luca Salsi alternating with Amartuvchin Enkhbat in the title role, Semenchuk we Netrebko in Lady), no Barber of Seville beginning of September with the young singers of the Academy, or even the expected return of I vespri siciliani (in Italian), with among others Luca Micheletti and Marina Rebeka. The latter will return for a Bohemiawhere she shared the stage with Irina LonguLuca Micheletti again, and Tommaso’s Freddie, recently mentioned for his recital published by Decca. In the realism department, Andrea Chenier allow us to compare the respective merits of Yusif Eyvazov and of Jonas Kaufmanfacing the Maddalena of Sonya Yocheva. The Tales of Hoffmann (Grigolo, Burato, Abdrazakovplaced under the direction of Frederic Chaslin) will represent French opera, Salome (Mikneviciute, Stolen, Watson led by Zubin Mehta), German opera, and Pierre Grimes (Jovanovitch, Carrstaging of Robert Carsen and musical direction of Simone Young, also present at the conference), English opera. In the radius of rarities, note that the Rusalka by Dvořák will be performed for the first time at La Scala, at least in June. The scaliger season is also about ballets, vocal recitals (Netrebko, Grigolo, WerbaFleming, bernheimVolle, Salsi), piano (Pollinibut also Buniatishvili, Igor Levit,…) and a rich symphonic program, during which, in addition to the host Riccardo Chailly, we will be able to see Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding, Timur Zangiev we Danielle Gatti follow each other on the podium. All the details about teatroallascala.org.